The elaborate torma offerings((Skt: Balingta, Wylie: gtor ma) are handmade by Sampel Lam for Tsagaan Sar (Mong. Цагаан сар) the Mongolian Lunar New Year in The Temple of the Five Manjushris at Delegeruun Choira (DC) Mongolia. They are made mostly of flour and butter and food colourings. Whilst temperatures outside on the treeless steppe fall below -30 degrees C and the freezing Gobi winds swirl and howl relentlessly, Sampel Lam, in focussed solitary retreat, proceeds through a series of complex and stipulated ritual offerings for the entire month before Tsagaan Sar. He has done this for the whole community since 2004 when DC reopened. Each year the tormas he makes become more beautiful and technically elaborate. The modest desk at which he sits for the month long retreat can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. 26 February 2017. Courtesy of Temuulen Amarbat.

The elaborate torma offerings((Skt: Balingta, Wylie: gtor ma) are handmade by Sampel Lam for Tsagaan Sar (Mong. Цагаан сар) the Mongolian Lunar New Year in The Temple of the Five Manjushris at Delegeruun Choira (DC) Mongolia. They are made mostly of flour and butter and food colourings. Whilst temperatures outside on the treeless steppe fall below -30 degrees C and the freezing Gobi winds swirl and howl relentlessly, Sampel Lam, in focussed solitary retreat, proceeds through a series of complex and stipulated ritual offerings for the entire month before Tsagaan Sar. He has done this for the whole community since 2004 when DC reopened. Each year the tormas he makes become more beautiful and technically elaborate. The modest desk at which he sits for the month long retreat can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. 26 February 2017. Courtesy of Temuulen Amarbat.